Bear Hunt
by PeggsterLover
Summary: Sequel to Phone Calls. Linda waits for Danny to come home from work when she receives a phone call from Frank at the hospital. My first sequel so I hope its ok!


_So someone mentioned it would be a good idea to try the situation of Danny's shooting from 'Phone Calls' from Linda's POV, so here it is.__ I decided to throw a bit of Danny's POV of the actual incident in here, seeing as there is the connection between Danny and Linda. Hope it's up to expectations. I haven't done a sequel before, so wish me luck haha. _

_Summary: Sequel to Phone Call. Linda waits for Danny to come home from work when she receives a phone call from Frank at the hospital. _

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I saw our suspect disappear down an alleyway at the back of the building.

"I got him!" I yelled back to Jackie. Before she could respond, I had already begun to follow him. I quite often was scolded for my readiness to jump into action, particularly by my dad. I wasn't really prepared for this situation – I was just in my suit, I didn't have my vest on. Just my gun. But I wasn't prepared to let him get away either. I ran as fast as I could after him, down the twisting alleyways, around sharp corners.

I reached one corner and as I turned it, I felt a sharp pain around my eye. I was thrown backwards by the contact. I landed hard on my back, my gun sliding from my hand and across the brick floor. I groaned, I was slightly dazed and already feeling a bruise starting to form when his fist had just hit me. I looked up at the suspect, who had now retrieved my gun from the floor and was pointing it in my direction.

"I didn't mean to kill him alright?" he yelled. Well, that was one positive thing from this whole scenario. If I made it out, I had his confession. I heard footsteps coming and knew that Jackie was on the way.

"Look," I began, hoping to buy time while Jackie found her way through the winding alleys. "If you come with us, we might be able to help you." I know it wasn't really my style, but I tell ya, when you're staring down the barrel of a gun, it kind of makes things slightly different for you.

"No!" he yelled back at me, shaking the gun, his finger never leaving the position where it was hovering over the trigger. "You can't help me! No one can…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jackie appear, her gun at the ready.

"Burke, put the gun down." She said. Despite her voice being calm, the glance she threw at me was full of fear.

"No…" he yelled back at her, never taking his eyes, or the gun, off me.

"Burke, you do this, and you'll never be able to see your little boy again. You hear me?"

Danny heard Jackie speak those words and couldn't help but think of Jack and Sean.

"I'm not going to see him again anyway!" Burke was getting more and more enraged by the second. I could not see this ending well for either him or me.

"Burke, this is your last warning. Put the gun down now or you leave me no choice."

The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. Burke had glanced at Jackie briefly but he then turned back to me. He lifted the gun and aimed it at my head. I breathed in sharply. I heard the first shot and realised that it had come from Jackie's gun as Burke reacted to the bullet hitting him. For a split second I thought the ordeal was over and I let out the breath I had been holding, however then I heard a second shot. At first, it was the shock more than the pain, but then the agony hit me. It was like white hot and I sucked the breath back in. I looked down, my vision blurred, and saw blood forming at my side. Everything around me began to spin. I heard Jackie shout my name but it sounded almost like she was under water.

I thought of Linda.

Jack…

Sean…

Dad…

Erin…

Jamie…

How would they take the news? My mind was racing, but my thoughts were getting blurred into one. Would I survive? If I did, would I be able to stay in this line of work? Would Linda let me? I'm not sure why, but I suddenly thought of the story my mom used to read me when I was little – 'We're going on a bear hunt'… it was my favourite because it used to remind me of dad.

"We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day, we're not scared."

Dad was never scared of anything. He was so brave. Going on his 'bear hunts' and catching the criminals without showing an ounce of fear. That's what I used to call them – bear hunts. I always tried to be the same once I grew up. Go on my own 'hunts', catch the criminals and save the day, just like he would do. But now I felt fear. As unconsciousness pulled me under, I thought to myself. Would I ever go on a 'bear hunt' again?

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"We're not going on a bear hunt again." I finished he story for the third time that night and looked across at the bunk beds. Both Jack and Sean were sound asleep. I quietly placed the book on the bedside table, gave each of our sons a kiss on the forehead and switched off the lamp. I gave one last glance at the boys before closing the door over, the night light leaving a small glow underneath it.

I quietly crept down the stairs to I didn't wake my sleeping angels. When I reached the kitchen, I grabbed a wine glass and poured myself a drink while I waited for Danny to come home. I looked out of the kitchen window at the darkness, the only light was coming from the full moon that was sitting up in the star filled sky. It was only 8:30pm, but due to the long winter nights, it was already pitch black. I stared up at the moon and thought about Danny. I was still not one hundred percent used to him coming home late from work. Even though we had been together for so long, and the late nights had almost always been there, I still couldn't rest or relax until he was home, safe in my arms.

The worries for Danny's safe return grew after his brother's death. Every time the phone would ring at night, I would answer it with nerves, however when Danny's voice would drift down the phone line, it was like music to my ears. Hearing his voice would fill me with relief, allowed me to relax slightly until he came home. I wandered into the living room and sat down on the sofa. I grabbed my book from the nearby coffee table and began my nightly wait.

Only twenty minutes had passed when I heard the familiar sound of our phone ringing. I got up quickly, to make sure that the sound would not wake the boys.

"Hello?" I asked, waiting to hear Danny's voice.

"Linda?" it wasn't her husband.

"Frank? Hi, I wasn't expecting you to call. Is everything ok?"

His next words caused my heart to sink, my stomach to do flips and my mind to go fuzzy.

"Linda, I'm down at the hospital. Look, Danny has been shot. He's just come out of surgery and he's doing ok. They said he's going to make a full recovery."

I felt horror and slight relief at what my father-in-law had just told me. My Danny. Shot. I hadn't felt such fear since back when he was serving in Iraq. He and some friends had been keeping an eye on things, doing the rounds to make sure everything was in order, when they came under fire. The news I had received had been that some of the group had been captured, the rest were killed. I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure what was worse – if Danny had been killed or if he was now a prisoner of some people who were probably capable of many things I couldn't comprehend.

After a short while of not knowing whether my boyfriend at the time had been killed or captured, news came back that he was, in fact, alive and safe. During the ambush, Danny had been thrown from the humvee due to an explosion, and was knocked unconscious. When their attackers had seen him, they presumed him to be dead so they left him. I had been so relieved to hear his voice from the phone as he lay in the medics tent reassuring me everything was going to be ok.

This time, it wasn't Danny calling me, it was Frank. Which meant it was worse than Iraq. I hadn't realised that I had been quiet for a few moments until Frank's voice came down the phone line again.

"Linda? Are you ok?" I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. I, uh, I'll get my neighbour to come over to look after Jack and Sean…" I trailed off.

"Linda, calm down. He's going to be ok. He's still asleep. Just get here when you can. Be careful." Frank knew that I was stressing, so I knew he was probably thinking I wouldn't be safe driving to the hospital.

"I will. See you soon." I wasn't thinking straight. I had to get my mind in order. I needed to be calm. But I was having so much trouble doing so. I picked up my phone and called Janet, our next-door neighbour. She was over in a flash. I knew I could always count on her to help out. Before I knew it, I was in the car and on the way to the hospital. My eyes never left the road in front of me. I was at the hospital in no time. I approached the desk and without thinking, got the directions to Danny's room.

"Frank…" I saw him standing down the hall. I walked faster and reached him. He pulled me into a hug. I looked up at him. "How is he?"

Frank motioned towards the door behind me. I looked at it, slightly afraid to see what was behind it. I reached for the handle and opened it. As I stepped inside, my emotions hit me like a freight train. I had managed to hold it together until that point, but the second I saw Danny, lying in that bed, unconscious and looking so vulnerable, it could hardly bare it. I felt my eyes begin to tear up and my breathing became shallow and laboured. His eyes were closed and one of them was surrounded by a bruise. His breathing was rhythmic as he lay in a deep sleep. I approached the bed and gently took his hand in mine. He was unresponsive but I know he was ok. I sat on the chair next to his bed and looked at his sleeping face. I reached up and softly caressed his forehead. It almost felt like he relaxed into my touch. I gave a small smile through my tears.

"It's alright, Danny. I'm here now." I whispered. "I love you."

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_I hope that was ok. I also hope that the Danny in Iraq flashback was ok. As we don't really know much about what happened to him over there, I just kinda added something. I hope that was ok :) _

_Remember, reviews are love. _

_X _


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